Boehringer Ingelheim and Inventiva, a French biopharmaceutical company specialized in the development of therapies for fibrosis, oncology and orphan diseases, have formed a new multi-year research and drug discovery collaboration and licensing agreement.

The Inventiva and Boehringer Ingelheim research teams will jointly validate a new therapeutic concept with the aim of discovering new medicines for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and other fibrotic diseases. The partnership will combine Inventiva’s knowhow and proprietary technologies in the field of transcriptional regulation and fibrosis with Boehringer Ingelheim’s capabilities in drug discovery and clinical development of new therapeutic agents.

The new collaboration is an example of Boehringer Ingelheim’s increasing focus on external innovation and builds on the company’s track record in IPF drug development.

“We are very proud to enter into this collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, a company well-reputed for its excellent research and development skills in the field of fibrosis, and particularly idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis,” said Pierre Broqua, co-founder and chief science officer, Inventiva. “We plan, alongside developing our own pipeline, on pursuing our strategy of establishing collaborative research partnerships with the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies.”

“We are enthusiastic about this partnership and look forward to collaborating with Inventiva’s team to develop a potential new breakthrough therapy for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis,” said Clive Wood, senior corporate vice president discovery research, Boehringer Ingelheim.

Inventiva will receive an upfront payment and is eligible to receive research funding, potential research, development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments of up to €170 million and tiered royalties on net sales of the products resulting from the partnership.